Defendant denies molesting child

RICHARD PRIORrichard.prior@staugustinerecord.com

Published Thursday, September 22, 2005

A grandfather testified Wednesday that he had no idea why a 9-year-old girl, who asked to ride on his scooter, later alleged he groped her, leading to a charge that could put him in prison for 30 years.

William Clay Triplett, 58, denied reaching under the child's sweatshirt and T-shirt to grab her chest while they rode around her neighborhood, with her seated in front of him on his scooter.

He also denied her statement that, as they rode on a chilly January afternoon in 2002, he asked if her nipples got hard in cold weather.

"I don't even talk that kind of language," he said to his attorney, Sharon Poole.

Both sides presented all their witnesses -- four each -- on Wednesday during the opening session of Triplett's two-day trial on a charge of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child, a first-degree felony.

The victim, now 11 years old, was the state's last witness. Triplett was the last witness called for the defense.

The jury of five women and one man will hear closing arguments this morning.

Poole twice asked Circuit Judge J. Michael Traynor for a directed verdict of not guilty, claiming the state had presented nothing beyond the victim's statement to prove its case.

The judge denied the motion each time, leaving it to the jury to sort through a number of contradictory statements made by witnesses.

The victim was visiting a friend's house when Triplett brought another child by on his scooter, McCray told the jury. The victim had expected to stay while her mother and a woman she worked with drove to a sports bar to watch an NFL playoff game.

Triplett asked if the girl wanted to ride on the scooter, McCray said.

Triplett and two defense witnesses -- a 15- and 13-year-old girl -- said it was the girl who kept asking.

After going around the neighborhood, McCray told the jury, the girl said she didn't want to ride anymore and had to jump off when the defendant accelerated.

Triplett and the two children testifying on his behalf said the victim refused to get off the scooter. The 13-year-old said she had to threaten her before she would cooperate.

The victim's mother said she and her friend were driving separate cars when they left the sports bar between 9:30 and 10 p.m. She testified that her daughter didn't say anything about the incident until she was putting her to bed that night.

She said she "flipped out" and called 911.

Testifying for the defense, the woman who accompanied the victim's mother said they left the sports bar together when it closed, at 2 a.m.

They drove to the woman's house, where the victim's mother picked up her child, and they went to their own home.

Sherri Wilson, who had been the case coordinator with the Children's Crisis Center, interviewed the victim. She said she recommended that police continue their investigation.

She did not, however, specifically recommend counseling.

Detective Kevin Cronin with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said he got a statement from the victim's mother and was later able to identify a suspect.

He said he telephoned Triplett, who came to the sheriff's office. Cronin said he arrested the defendant immediately after their interview, discounting his protests that he had done nothing wrong.

Triplett told Cronin, and repeated on the stand, that any "inappropriate touching" was accidental.

As the child "goosed" the throttle on the scooter, Triplett said, he almost lost his balance and put his arms around her middle.

"I just didn't want to hit the pavement," he said. "I kept telling her to quit that. I think she thought it was kind of funny."

His hands did not go under her clothes, Triplett said. He didn't believe he touched her chest but conceded it could have happened "accidentally."

He told Poole and McCray he had no idea why the girl would make up such a story.

Asked by McCray if he was likely to confess to such a crime, Triplett said, "If I was guilty, I'd probably have been scared to go see the detective about it."